Episode 3 The Singer of Tales

Homer wrote his epicThe Iliad, in 700 BC 500 years after the Trojan Wars were supposed to have taken place. On what did he base his story? Did the Trojan war ever happen,or was the city destroyed by natural causes? It’s fascinated poets, painters and Hollywood directors for over 2,500 years. Historian Michael Wood combs the cradle of civilization from Greece to Turkey and points beyond Germany, Ireland and England in search of archaeological evidence that may validate the fantastic battles immortalized in The Iliad. Wood marshals the disparate strands of evidence to present as fully rounded a portrait as possible of both the historical and the legendary city of Troy, its central place in Western culture, and the Mycenaean Age itself. From Schliemann’s initial cavalier bulldozing of the mound at Hisarlik, to Homer’s epics, the Hittite Empire, and the role of slave women, Wood journeys back and forth across the Aegean and elsewhere to illuminate the dawn of Western literature, myth, and history.
Episode 1 The Age of Heroes – The story of the Trojan War. The lost treasure of Troy. Account of Heinrich Schliemann’s life and research on Troy.
Episode 2 The Legend Under Siege – Wilhelm Dorpfeld research. Arthur Evans’ discoveries and theories. Carl Blegen’s findings, the Linear-B deciphering and the role of both in Trojan War credibility.
Episode 3 The Singer of Tales – The role and long time fidelity of oral traditions. Homer’s reliability challenged. Michael Wood continues his search to discover whether Homer’s story of Trojan War is a myth by studying modern bardic traditions then visiting the sites of the Trojan War and comparing Homer’s descriptions with archaeological finds.
Episode 4 The Women of Troy – Plundering in Bronze Age. The taking of women and children as slaves and their economic and political role. The recent African slavery parallel. The reality behind Helen and Mycenae’s wealth and offers an explanation of the Wooden Horse.
Episode 5 Empire of the Hittites – Decisive documental evidence from the Hittites. Recurrent conflicts with the Mycenaeans. How the war would have been viewed by Agamemnon’s neighbours through the records of the Hittite Emperors.
Episode 6 The Fall of Troy – The Trojan conflict and the Mediterranean late Bronze Age collapse. Homer says the Greek Heroes returned from Troy to an era of death and destruction. Dramatic finds from the late Bronze Age chart the decline and fall of empires all over the Aegean.